Kender (4e Race)

Kender

They're courageous...or naive. They like all that shines.

By Larry Elmore

Racial Traits

Average Height: 3 -3'9"

Average Weight: 85-105 lbs.

Ability Scores: +2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma

Size: Small

Speed: 5 squares

Vision: Dark vision

Languages: common and choose a number of others equal to your Int mod

Skill Bonuses: +2 Stealth, +2 Thievery, +2 Perception

Fearless: Kender are immune to attacks with the Fear keyword

Nimble: Kender gain a +2 Racial Bonus to AC versus Opportunity Attacks.

Taunt: Kender gain Taunt as an encounter power.

Taunt	Kender Racial Power
You utter a jarring taunt, sending your enemy to a rage.
Encounter  Charm
Minor Action	Ranged 10
Target: 1 Creature
Attack: Charisma +2 Vs. Will
Hit: The target grants combat advantage to you until the end of your next turn.

Kenders are funny small creatures, similar to halflings, only more troublesome. They love to acquire stuff. Kenders do not steal. To them, stealing is not even a concept.

Playing a kender one should enjoy one of the following qualities...

• fearless innocence
• fleet of foot, quick of wit, and naturally inquisitive.
• The Bard or Rogue classes as these are favored by kender.

Physical Qualities

Kender are often mistaken for halflings; most don't care either way if they are. They have bright eyes that give them a youthful appearance, and are often quite thin and frail looking. They carry an air of innocence about them, and are often caught off guard as many are just as naive as they are energetic. Kenders are fond of simple clothing that is loose and comfortable and usually carry numerous bags, satchels and pouches on their person as their fingers are quick to pick-up items that amuse or fascinate them.

Roleplaying A Kender

Kenders are natural born thieves, but they don't see it as stealing because their view is that everything is everyone's. They are very light of heart and are very hard to be mad at because they just feel that what they do isn't wrong. They also never steal out of someone's hand but they will out of someone's pocket because "they aren't using it". Kenders also search out "fun" they think of everything as a game. They will not just kill unless they see the person harming someone else or they are personally being harmed.

Kender Characteristics: Mischievous, thieving, naive, playful, thrill-seeking

Male Names: Tasselhoff, Myridon, Zetto, Ferra

Female Names: Tyra, Lorpine, Furise, Sella

Fearlessness

Although a kender is immune to all types of fear, it should be noted that on more than one occasion, kender have felt fear for individuals that they care for. So, while kender are immune to fear for themselves, they may still fear the peril of others.

Wanderlust

Kender are afflicted with wanderlust in their teens, this lust makes it difficult, even stifling to be in one place for a very long time. They become overly curious, and find that they seek adventure more and more throughout their adolescence. This can be problematic, as they are immune to fear, many young kender may find themselves in dangerous positions. One such example would be Teik Glittergold, a young rogue that found himself face to face with a red dragon, because the kender wondered how large the dragon’s cave could be.

As a note, wanderlust does not make kender unintelligent or wanton for danger, it just helps to remove inhibitions about completing dangerous, or otherwise unhealthy tasks, if it means that the kender can explore, unearth, or find something new and different.

Kender usually grow out of the Wanderlust later in their lives, provided that they live that long.

Kleptomania

Anyone who has holes in their pockets should be wary of the kender. More often than not, if a kender has a fond appreciation for something you own that is not strapped down, tied up, or locked away, they will “find it”. It is not uncommon at all for a kender to have many pockets filled with the knick-knacks, and shiny baubles, that his party has “dropped.” If one were to realize that their key has come up missing, and is now in the kender’s possession, the kender will usually have no problem giving it back, and will exclaim something along the lines of, “I found that a couple miles back, I bet you are really glad that I saw it and picked it up for you.”

Kender are very curious and tend to "borrow" objects. The kender possess a habit of finding things that have dropped into their pouches by accident, picking things up in the streets, finding "junk", and generally getting things that belong to other people. The kender have enormous natural curiosity, a character trait which is also employed to provision the characters with both lock picking skills and a tendency to "listen in on other's conversations". In terms of moral considerations, kender are described as not believing that there is anything wrong with handling, although this habit may be employed to get kender in to deep trouble with the owner of an item. In addition, they do not tend to "find" things like money, gems, and the like, as they are depicted as having little concept of monetary value. Kender oppose actual thieving vehemently, and thus consider being called a thief a great insult to their dignity.

Kender Adventurers

The kender favor the bard and rogue classes. Below are three examples of such adventurers:

Leif Heraldmen is a young kender bard on the road, looking to find epic destinies and heroes. He desires to seek the greatest adventures with the most thrill so he can make the greatest compilation of bard songs and epics ever, garnering a household name for himself.

Jiggens Banterforth is a seasoned kender rogue who likes to call himself a judge of responsibility. Those who are not able to keep an eye or hand on their own items do not deserve them. And so he relieves them of their possessions. The rich and noble cringe at his name.

Aris Erenthor is a kender bard wandering the countryside after leaving her community. She often doesn't always make the best of coin, and so she helps herself to the purses of others. Like the music one hears, it is a permanent borrowing, in her view. If people can hear a bard sing and keep the epic in their hearts, then she can borrow gold and keep it in her pouch.

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